Planners at Bradford Council have postponed a decision on two major supermarket applications for Shipley after a third bid involving Morrisons was announced.

Applications for the Crossley Evans recycling site and the factory of shopfitters Cardinal at Airedale Mills were scheduled to go before the special planning Regulatory and Appeals Committee meeting on September 23.

But the announcement of Bradford-based Morrisons’ plans for a multi-million pound retail and housing development on a site between Crag Road and the railway line has put a spanner in the works.

A planning application is expected to go in later this month.

John Eyles, the Council’s major developments manager, said: “A decision has now been taken to defer the applications for the Otley Road and Airedale Mills supermarket schemes so that the latest proposals for the Crag Road site can be carefully assessed.

“The two current applications will therefore not be considered at the planning committee meeting scheduled for September 23.

“This is because the developers for the Crag Road site have indicated that they will be submitting their planning application later this month.

“A new date will be set for a special meeting of the Regulatory and Appeals Committee soon so that all three schemes can be considered at the same time.”

Windhill and Wrose councillor Vanda Greenwood (Lab) welcomed the news. She said: “I am pleased. That is what I called for in the first place. It would be unfair not to hear all three at the same time.”

Coun Greenwood also voiced her support for the Morrisons scheme, saying: “I think this particular scheme, from my point of view and from my ward’s point of view, is the better scheme.

“It ticks lots of boxes. It will be good for local residents and should open up more job opportunities. And it will keep the Carnegie Library, which has been a bone of contention, so it’s the best of both worlds.

“There are lots of reasons why I think it is really good.”

The proposed Morrisons development – unveiled by Skipton Properties and dubbed Shipley Exchange – could bring 580 jobs to the district. It would include a £2 million overhaul of the town’s railway station and transport links, and involve dismantling the Carnegie Library at Windhill and re-building it near the planned store.

Planned for the old Perseverance Mill site, it promises 94 homes and 100 parking spaces for Shipley station.

The new plan is for a medium-sized Morrisons and petrol station which will employ 250 permanent staff plus 100 jobs in the site’s commercial quarter plus 50 jobs at built-in restaurants.